


Apollo 13

by fisherman



Category: Pacific Rim
Genre: Dorks in Love, F/M, Feels, Fluff, Gen, Pregnancy, pre-movie events (just barely)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-26
Updated: 2013-11-26
Packaged: 2018-01-02 16:21:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1058976
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fisherman/pseuds/fisherman
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hermann comes home to find that Vanessa has a surprise for him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Apollo 13

The sun was shining down on the Gottlieb household on this crisp autumn morning, in more ways than one.

            Hermann Gottlieb was sitting in the backseat of a taxi, the English countryside blurring past him.  He glanced down at his phone and frowned.  _I’m late_ , he thought.  He didn’t enjoy being late. Who did, really? Why would anyone want to be late?  It was rude and inconsiderate.  Hermann looked over at a field of grass, making brief eye contact with a sheep, and then down at his hands again.  His insufferable lab partner, Doctor Newton Gieszler, was always late. He seemed to enjoy it too.  He would burst through the doorway huffing and puffing, making up some excuse to the Marshall, and grinning the entire time.  _Inconsiderate imbecile_.

            “Take a left up here?”

            “Yes,” answered Hermann to the inquiring taxi driver.  Hermann took a deep breath and looked back out the window, pushing Doctor Gieszler out of his mind.  He was glad to be back home.  Back in England, back in the country.  When he was younger, he never imagined he would live there, but when he and his wife had found a small cottage property twenty minutes from any proper civilization, he had fallen immediately in love.  Vanessa, his wife, had suggested it, and at first he had hesitated: the thought of dirty farm animals and hard labor were the first things that came to his mind at the thought of “country living,” But he had never been somewhere so quiet, so peaceful, where nature was vast, and yet intimate.  It’s like he had found a lost piece of himself, and he had his wife to thank for helping him find it. 

            The taxi pulled up to a large cottage house, its walls were white (well, more of a grey after years of dirt and weather) with dark brown trim.  A garden was in front of it, but had rotted and died after September.  Hermann frowned; it had still been alive when he had left a month ago. 

            “Need help with your suitcase?”  The taxi driver had lifted it out of the trunk. 

            “Ah, no, thank you very much, my dear fellow,” said Hermann. He took some money from his pocket and handed it to the driver, who wished him well, and drove off.  Hermann looked and faced his house, taking in the essence of home.  He exhaled, and began to wheel his suitcase up to his door.  His cane dug into the muddy ground.  Before he got to the door, he could smell dinner wafting from an open kitchen window.  He almost wanted to cry.  Almost.  While the PPDC prided itself on nutritious, tasty meal plans, it could never compare to his wife’s cooking. 

            Hermann leaned heavily on the side door, pushing it open with his shoulder (it had a tendency to stick to the frame after a rainstorm).  He smiled at the familiarity of his home: the rustic kitchen-wear and the floral curtains on the windows.  Stacks of books were on the kitchen table, and stacks of dishes were in the sink. 

            “Hello?  Vanessa, I’m home,” called Hermann.  He heard a pounding from upstairs, followed by an aggressive thumping of feet rapidly descending a staircase.  Hermann braced himself against the counter top, preparing for the bombarding hug he was about to receive.  Not that he minded. 

            Vanessa burst through the adjacent doorframe, her large, frizzy black hair flying to catch up with her.  Instead of flinging herself at him, though, she gently glided across the ceramic kitchen tiles, holding out her arms and bringing him into a hug. 

            “I missed you,” she whispered, kissing his forehead.

            ‘Missed you too, love,” he whispered back, kissing her lips.  He held onto her for a moment, desiring the closeness of her heart, the center of his home. 

            “I have a surprise for you,” she teased.

            “Oh do you,” he smirked.  He normally hated surprises, but he enjoyed the kind his wife gave him.  Her face was lit up with a grin, and she kissed the tip of his nose. 

            “I made soup.  Would you like a bowl?” She moved over to the counter-top, lifting a lid off of a steaming pot, “it’s your favorite: chicken and vegetable,” she looked down at the soup, and then back at Hermann, “That isn’t what the surprise is though, the actual surprise is much better than soup.”

            “That sounds delightful,” laughed Hermann.  He pulled his shoes off and hung his jacket on the coat rack next to the doorway.  Vanessa was ladling soup into a bowl for him, and he walked up behind her, wrapping his arms around her stomach and resting his head on her shoulder.

            “Tired,” she asked.

            “Yes,” he answered.  He enjoyed working for the PPDC, but ten years of taxis, boats, trains, and airplanes were starting to make him a bit stir-crazy.  As much as he wanted to spend the day with Vanessa, telling her about the past month in the Hong Kong Shatterdome, he just wanted to down his soup and go to sleep.  

            They sat at the kitchen table, eating soup and sharing four weeks worth of stories.  Stories about the books they’d read (“I thought _Dracula_ was quite excellent, but _Frankenstein_ will always be my favorite monster book,” “Really? I’m much more partial to Lovecraft”) and stories about the people in their lives (“Your father called me,” “Oh?” “I told him to bugger off,” “Hmm, cheers”).  There were stories about the K-Science Lab (“And then he had the _audacity_ to turn his music up even _louder_ ” “I’m so sorry, love”) and modeling sessions (“So there I was, walking down the cat-walk, wrapped in a cloud of tulle” “Goodness gracious,” “That’s exactly what I said to the designer; I could barely see where I was going, but I looked fabulous anyway”).  All these stories, broken up between spoonfuls of soup, sips of tea, and the occasional moment of silence, with small romantic glances.

            Hermann drained the rest of his bowl, and Vanessa went to go set it in the sink.  He got up, leaning on his cane.  Maybe if he asked, Vanessa would come nap with him. 

            “Wait.”

Hermann, turned around and looked at Vanessa.  She stood there, twisting the fabric from her long flowing skirt in-between her fingers.  She seemed nervous, “I, um, just wanted to show you that surprise…I know you’re tired, but I think you’ll really love it.”

            Hermann chewed his tongue for a moment, “Alright, if you say so.”  She smiled and grabbed his hand, gently tugging him towards the side door. 

He followed her as she led him out the door into their back yard.  It wasn’t quite a backyard, as much as it was a field, fenced-in by a long line of tangled woods. 

            Immediately Hermann noticed the “surprise.” A month ago, a garden shed had been the only noticeable landmark in their back yard, but where a rotting shack filled with garden tools had once been, now stood a structure at least four times it’s size.  It was painted red and white, mimicking the image of a barn.  But a barn didn’t usually have windows on it that were two yards high, did it?

            “I got a chance to model with a better agency a while before you left,” began Vanessa, “they paid, well, handsomely, and with the extra money, I decided to get you a small gift.” 

            “Small?  Vanessa, it’s a little house.  Is this the surprise: are we going to live more economically now?”  Hermann looked at her with mock-expectancy, but she just laughed and kicked at some dead leaves with her bare-feet.

            “I know it seems, a bit much, but wait until you see what’s inside: I call it the ‘Math-Barn.’”

“Math-Barn,” Hermann mouthed, squinting at the structure with suspicion.  He stopped and stared at it, while Vanessa went to the door and unlocked it with a key.  She gestured for him to come in, pressing the small metal key into his palm. 

            Hermann walked through the doorway and gasped.  Christmas had come early.

            The room, for the most part, was bare.  The only objects in the room was a holo-computer in the corner and model airplanes and space-crafts he had constructed years ago, hanging from the high ceiling, being illuminated from the sunlight coming through the high windows.   But the best part of the room, were the emerald walls. 

            “Is…is this…” he ran his fingers along the walls.  _It was_.

            “Chalk-paint-science has come along way,” said Vanessa, leaning against a green wall, “Now you don’t need boards anymore, you can just have an entire room that is a giant chalk-board.  Here, take a look.”  She walked over to a very well hidden drawer in the wall and pulled in open.  Hermann, who hadn’t stopped grinning since he entered the room, smiled even larger at the amount of chalk sticks it contained. 

            “This is enough chalk to last you five years.  Trust me I calculated it,” she said, pulling out a piece of chalk.  She scraped it across the wall in front of her, scribbling the words “Hermann Gottlieb is hot xoxo” and put many hearts around it. 

            “Erasers,” she pulled open another drawer, “calculators and paper,” another drawer.  She shifted a lever and pulled down a panel from the wall.

            “A desk, when you need to do paperwork or eat something,” she snapped it back into place.  She held her arms above her head gesturing to the windows.

            “Lot’s of natural lighting, so then you won’t be completely blind by the time your’re fifty…But, should you choose to stay and work late at night –which I know you will- I had these installed,” she pulled out a small remote from her pocket and clicked it at the airplanes.  The airplanes’ headlights and space-ships jets’ lit up, and Vanessa let out a very self-satisfied sigh.  She trotted back over to Hermann. 

            “I put heated tiles in the floor, because I know how cold your feet get, even in early autumn,” she said, wrapping her arm around his shoulder, “and I have rolling ladders so you can work all the way up to the ceiling! And, also open the windows so you can get proper fresh air in here.  I just need your help moving them in here.  Oh, and all of your work from your study –including your other boards- are in the living room and ready to be moved in here, if ya like.”

            She let go of him and held her breath.  He was still staring and looking at the walls.  She could see the formula’s and equations buzzing in his head, practically jumping from his brain onto the emerald surfaces of the barn.

            “What do you think,” she asked eagerly.

            Hermann was still looking around, at the high ceilings and the sunshine breathing sentience into the walls.  He turned back to Vanessa, his mouth open in a grin.  He kept opening and shutting it, not quite sure what to say. 

            Leaning on heavily on his cane, he walked back over to the drawer with the chalk sticks in them.  He pulled one out, and with deliberate calculation and shaking hands, drew a small heart on the wall.

            “I don’t think anyone’s ever done me such a kindness,” he said softly, turning his head over his shoulder looking at Vanessa, who was looking particularly radiant. 

            She swept towards him and wrapped him up in a hug, smearing a kiss across his mouth.

            “I love you.  I don’t deserve you,” Hermann mumbled.  Vanessa scowled at him, and flicked his nose.

            “How many times have I told you not to say that?  Please don’t say that.  We completely deserve each other,” she snapped. 

            “I’m sorry.  We completely deserve each other.  We’re like… Romeo and Juliet,” Hermann apologized, giving her puppy-dog eyes.  Vanessa let out of bark of laughter.

            “Hermann, stick with calculations: you’re a much better mathematician than Shakespearian scholar.” 

            “But, it’s the greatest love story of all time, isn’t it?” Vanessa smiled and kissed him.

            “Ah, perhaps.  But I wouldn’t peg us down as the Romeo and Juliet type.  No, I don’t think so,” she said pressing Hermann’s body against the emerald wall, “No I’d say we’re more like… Bottom and Titania.”

            “Bottom and Titania?  I don’t recall them,” said Hermann, letting Vanessa press her forehead to his, as he dragged his fingers through her hair. 

            “That’s because you only bother with Shakespeare’s tragedies, never his comedies.  They’re from A Midsummer Night’s Dream.  Bottom is dutiful…and hard working… and devoted, when others are not.  You might say that he’s a bit of a pack-mule.  He also has rather large ears,” she giggled, running her fingers along the top of Hermann’s ears, making him blush.  He reached for her fingers and brought them to his lips.

            “And what about Titania?  I want to hear more about her.”

            “Titania? She’s a queen.  She’s kind and loving: keeps her promises.  But she is also strong, and is not to be trifled with,” Vanessa said, raising a finger.  The seriousness on her face broke and she slid her arms around Hermann.

            “She is also hopelessly devoted to Bottom.”

            Vanessa felt Hermann sigh into her neck, as he wrapped his arms around her and cradled her head with his hands. 

            “I think she pales in comparison to you,” he said, gently kissing her.  She kissed him back, and she was quite sure that their hearts were beating loud enough to be heard in unison. 

            “Ya, and you’re not quite an ass, either,” Vanessa added.

            “What?”

            “Nothing.”

            Hermann and Vanessa finally broke away from each other, their cheeks both blushing as if they’re were both fifteen years younger.  Hermann glanced up from the floor, and into Vanessa dark eyes.  She smiled gently at him

            “Thank you, really, for all of this,” he said, jabbing his cane into the air.   He studied the room once more, sweeping his gaze over it.  He held his gaze at his airplanes models hanging from the ceiling. 

“What made you decide not to put Apollo up,” he asked.

“Hmm?”

“Apollo 13.  The model I built a few months after we were married. You know it’s my favorite: you must have a good reason for not putting it up there.  Not that I’m complaining, really.  I’m just curious.”

“I, ah,” Vanessa stood for a moment, opening her mouth, closing it, and then opening it again.  She had begun to clutch at her skirt again.  Hermann furrowed his brow at her.

            “Are you alri-”

            “It’s not finished,” Vanessa blurted.

            “It’s not finished,” asked Hermann, glancing around the room, “it seems finished to me.  Although, I’ve been married to you long enough: you’re just as much a perfectionist as I am.  I suppose I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s one final detail you need to peg on here.  Apollo doesn’t have to go up: you’ve worked so very hard already.  I wouldn’t want to trouble you.  Honestly you’re too good to me: you’ve done more than enough already, I should hardly think that-”

            “No!  I mean,” Vanessa cut him off, “I mean the surprise isn’t quite finished.”

            “Oh.  Well.  Quite frankly, I’m not sure how you’re going to top this.”  Hermann smiled at Vanessa.  Wordlessly, she reached forward and took his hand, grinning mischievously. 

            She led him out of the barn, across their backyard, back through the kitchen, and into the living room.   It was filled with Hermann’s chalkboards, his old computer and stacks of old books, journals and papers covered in calculations. They had to press themselves against the wall and scoot through a thin pathway to reach the staircase that led to their second floor.  A pang of pain swept through Hermann as the ascended the staircase.  He squeezed his thigh and begged it to hold out a little longer. 

            Vanessa waited for him at the top of the staircase, a look of concern on her face.

            “You alright?”

            “I will be. I’ll finish up with this surprise and then pop off to bed.  I’d love it if you joined me,” he said, holding out his hand.

            “A late-afternoon nap?  How romantic,” sighed Vanessa, pressing the back of her hand to her head melodramatically.  They walked down the hallway to Hermann’s old study.  They stood outside the doorway, and Vanessa had begun to twist the fabric of her skirt again.

            “I, um,” she began, “At the whole root of this thing, the Barn, I mean, I truthfully, just needed your study.”

            “My study?  What could’ve you have possibly needed it for?  Not that I’m complaining about your redirection of it,” Hermann quickly added. 

            “I…” Vanessa’s voice was shaking.  She never got this nervous, not even before going down the cat-walk.   Not even before walking down the aisle. 

            “Vanessa?  Vanessa, darling, what’s the matter?  Are you alright?”  Hermann reached out and took her shaking hand.  He rubbed his thumb over her knuckles and pulled her into a hug.

            “If this surprise is causing you this much stress, then you don’t have show it to me,” he remarked.  Vanessa let out a laugh and kissed his cheek.

            “No, you have to see it.  I’m just sort of realizing now… the whole gravity of the situation.  The earth is being attacked by monsters, you have to go and help save the planet every other week,” she paused, “What a messed up world we live in…it’s all a bit scary, isn’t it?”

            Hermann stared at her.  His wife was never this vulnerable.  What was wrong, and why wouldn’t she talk about it to him?

            “I suppose…but what does it have to do with my study?”  He watched Vanessa chew the inside of her cheek, studying him. 

            “You have no idea,” she asked.

            “Well I believe that is the principal theory behind a surprise,” he answered. She let out a chuckle, and then, hesitantly, placed her hand on the door-handle of the study.   She turned it, slowly, but then didn’t open it.

            “It’s…not quite done yet.  I wanted to wait for you to come home first.  I wanted some of your input.”

            “Some input?  On my own surprise,” Hermann questioned incredulously.

            Vanessa smiled at him.

            “ _Our_ surprise.”

            She gave the door a gentle push and it swung open. He stepped inside, the late afternoon sunlight was streaming in, and Hermann had to blink furiously to see through the golden streams of dust motes. 

            The room was sparse, about as sparse as the Math Barn had been.  The study, which had once been a pale grayish-blue, was now a warm, buttery yellow, trimmed with light brown.  The first thing he saw was his Apollo 13 model hanging in the corner from the ceiling, lightly swinging and reflecting the sunlight.  The only other object in the room, right below the spacecraft, was a crib. 

            Hermann felt his heart shoot up into his throat.  His eyes went wide as a tidal wave of emotion rammed into him.  He staggered back, his leg finally giving out him.  He felt Vanessa grab his shoulders as they both leaned back against the wall, sliding to the floor.

            They both sat, and Hermann took a deep breath, before staring into Vanessa eyes.  He felt a pang of guilt in his heart when he looked into her eyes, which were full of anxiety and fear.  Immediately, he smiled, and he watched the fear leave her.  She let out a giggle, which made him laugh, and he pulled her close to his chest as they kept laughing until tears were streaming down Vanessa’s face.

            “Hey, hey, now,” Hermann stammered between breaths,” don’t cry, we’re supposed to be happy, aren’t we?”  He wiped the tears from her cheeks.  She grabbed his wrist and kissed his fingers.  The laughs and smiles soon disappeared from her face.  Her brow creased and she let out a small whimper, as she began to cry harder.  Hermann pulled her close and held onto her, kissing the top of her head.  He felt a lump rise in his throat, and tried to maintain it.

            “I, I was so afraid,” she choked, “I was so afraid you’d be upset,” she wept. 

            “Upset?  Why would I be upset,” asked Hermann, looking into her eyes. Vanessa was quiet for a moment.  She drew a ragged breath and answered.

            “I don’t know.  A lot of dumb reasons I suppose.  Because I didn’t tell you immediately.  Because you’re working so hard to protect humanity and now we’re adding “daddy” to your list of titles.  Because this hasn’t been something we didn’t quite agree on-”

            “‘Didn’t quite agree on?  We always said that we’d, maybe someday, want to have children,” Hermann said.

            “Ya well, ‘Maybe Someday’ just showed up a few days after you left last month,” she joked softly.  There was a moment of silence, and Hermann watched her eyes well up with tears again.  He gently cupped her face in his hands, and he felt tears welling up in his own eyes.

            “I could _never_ be upset with you, you realize that?  You bring me so much joy and happiness.  Before I met you I thought, ‘well I suppose this is the best it’s going to get, and I guess that’s alright,’ but then you came along I my life became infinitely better.  I didn’t even realize how wonderful life could be before you showed me. 

            “That’s why I go and I fight.  Call me selfish, but all of humanity is secondary to you.  Well, you, and now, ah,” he glanced down at her stomach.

            “Baby Gottlieb, you goose,” she chided, laughing.  She twisted her body so her back was resting into Hermann.

            “Yes, of course, ‘Baby Gottlieb.’  Wow.  Wow, um, ‘ _Ba-by-Gott-lieb_ ’ it’s all sort of starting to hit me all of the sudden,” He let out a nervous laugh and wiped the tears from his eyes, “I’m going to be a dad.”  The words sounded so foreign to him, as if he were speaking an alien language. He let out a sigh. He shifted his arms down from under Vanessa breasts to right above where he guessed Baby Gottlieb would be. 

            “How far along are you?”

            “Four weeks and three days,” Vanessa said, sniffing.  Hermann pulled out a handkerchief for her, and she blew her nose.

            “My beautiful, snotty, Queen: mother of my child,” praised Hermann, kissing Vanessa on the cheek.  She laughed, tossing the handkerchief to her side. 

            “You are happy though?”

            “Happy?  I’m overjoyed!  I mean, of course there is the worry and anxiety that comes with the whole raising-a-completely-new-person thing, but I think that’s natural and occurs with everyone in these sort of situations,” he said, planting another kiss on the crown of her head. 

            “Besides,” he continued, “we’re Vanessa and Hermann Gottlieb, by jove! Parenting is going to be hardly a bother.”  Much to Hermann’s chagrin, Vanessa was laughing again. 

            “What?”

            “Nothing.  I’m just really glad that I married and decided to have a baby you,” she answered, turning around and kissing him. 

            They didn’t quite make it back to their bedroom.  They stayed in the study-turned-baby-room, lying on the floor, holding hands, and talking about the future: about the rest of the decorum of the baby’s room (“if it’s a girl I think we could change the trim to pink or purple”), about Hermann going to the Hong Kong Shatterdome (“last ditch effort for Marshall Pentecost’s part”) about Vanessa only being able to only last maybe a month or two more on a formal runway (“and then it’s off to a bunch of maternity shoots!”), about the future of the world (“I’m going to work even harder now!  No way am I going to just going to just let the kaiju win!  Now that Baby Gottlieb is on the way”), about future names (“I think a German name would be lovely!”), about future family (“I don’t want my father anywhere near Baby Gottlieb”), about future relationships  (“Neither of us have any close friends…who is going to be this babies godparents?”), about future worries (“Is there a way to tell if a baby doesn’t like you?”), and future excitements (“I can’t wait to go to the space museums and fashion shows, just the three of us!”), and just, about the future (“Do you really think we can do think?”  “You make accurate predictions mathematically everyday, you tell me”).

            They both drifted off to sleep on the hardwood floor, clutching onto each other.  It wasn’t until Vanessa’s eyelid fluttered open and the brilliant sunshine had been replaced with cold moonlight and the soft twinkle of stars.  She sat up, her back cracking in disagreement.  Hermann stirred and inhaled, rubbing his eyes.  Vanessa stood up and offered a hand out to Hermann.

            “Hey sleepy-head,” she whispered.  He reached out and accepted her hand as she pulled him up.  His bad leg buckled underneath him, and he let out a small cry of pain. 

            “Whoa!  I’ve got you,” shouted Vanessa, grabbing Hermann around his waist.  She kept him upright, as he fumbled to grab his cane.  Finally, he managed to stay up, leaning against the wall, wheezing.

            “Are you going to be able to make it to bed, or do you need me to carry you?”   Vanessa looked at him worriedly.

            Hermann let out a small laugh, “I don’t think you’re supposed to be carrying anything heavy in your condition.”

            “Oh please _mien schatz_ , you’re all skin and bones.  I think I… I think _we_ can handle it,” she said, placing her hand on her abdomen.  Hermann’s mouth twitched into a smile.  Vanessa held out a hand and he accepted it, leaning heavily on her as they made their way to their bedroom. 

            Too tired to change into pajamas, Vanessa and Hermann pulled their clothes from their bodies, crawling into bed in their underwear.  They climbed under the sheets and blankets, letting their bodies and minds sink into the mattress. 

            Hermann snuggled towards Vanessa, and grabbed her hand. 

            “Goodnight Mrs. Gottlieb,” he whispered.

            “Goodnight Mr. Gottlieb,” she whispered back.  She felt his hand shift under their blankets and make it way towards her.  She felt his fingertips rest over her abdomen. 

            “Goodnight Baby Gottlieb.”

            Vanessa smiled and placed her hand over his.

            “Goodnight Baby Gottlieb.”

           

           


End file.
